


After Nightfall

by Ifigenia_the_cruel



Series: The Mori conquests [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Magic, Sirens, Spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:21:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27802978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ifigenia_the_cruel/pseuds/Ifigenia_the_cruel
Summary: The fame of the Uchiha as handsome men has gotten around, attracting the attention of a playful spirit.
Relationships: Uchiha Izuna/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Mori conquests [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2024959
Kudos: 6





	After Nightfall

Who was I to encounter, I knew not. I only knew that I was ready for any possible situation that I could be faced with. Curiosity had dragged me to a dark area, filled with menacing spirits eager to tell me every ongoings around the place. My mind, however, was focused on finding the leader of the clan that lived there. I wasn’t even sure that I could reach him, since he was deep within his territory, surrounded by people. How could I make him go to me?

My desire to look at an Uchiha man was stronger than my good judgment. When we were notified about the new, handsome, powerful and single man bestowed with the leadership of his kin, I wanted to see such a creature up close, even more so If he turned out to be a good prospect to father my first child. Since I had been avoiding the task of assuring my branch of the family for 2 years now, many of the elders were pestering me about duties and traditions. My heart would comply if my journey was, indeed, bountiful.  
Due to the constant reminder of my responsibility, I packed a few things soon after the news about Uchiha Tajima’s passing, and set out for the land of fire to look for his heir, in hopes of finding a fitting lover. I longed for Madara, but if the mission proved to be impossible, I was willing to settle for a lower Uchiha.

At twilight, I heard voices from the earth telling me about Madara’s location which was too far from me, but they told me about someone similar in traits and rank that was closer. Uchiha Izuna, Madara’s beloved younger brother. He was to patrol the perimeter as he hunted.

I saw him in the distance at about the same time he noticed me amongst the tall grass. Handsome was an inaccurate description to describe Uchiha Izuna. He seemed to be around my age, maybe a year older. His hair was as black as a starless night sky, and so were his eyes. Those ignited in red, like a fire to watch me. The sharingan reminded me of a battle's dawn as it scanned me intensely from afar.

“State your business here, foreigner.” He demanded, walking towards me and unsheathing his short sword. “Who are you and what do you want?”

I raised both arms to show I meant no harm and stayed put.

“Mori Momoko, sir, I am lost,” I lied, looking straight into the sharingan, which was not truly active, but meant to scare me.

He looked at me a little confused. He seemed to wonder why my gaze lingered in his face, while any other’s would avert to avoid danger. He was unaware it was just me playing dumb.

“Your eyes… they changed,” I whispered, narrowing my eyes in disbelief, and then added. “I swear to be lost; I am unarmed”

My compulsion was already active, therefore, the effects were showing: Izuna was falling slowly, giving into my charm. The process would take longer than expected, since the boy’s will was strong.

He came closer, pointing his sword toward my heart, but soon lowered it when his eyes fell upon my clan’s kamon pendant, hanging from my neck.

“Where are you from?” He asked, apparently unable to recognize my clan. “You are not from around here.”

“From the land of water, sir. I am on a pilgrimage to the Black Sun’s Temple. Women from my clan must do such a task.”

That was not entirely a lie; The Mori did go from temple to temple when they travelled, but I had said it for the purpose of buying time.

“You are far from home, woman.” Izuna commented, raising a brow, then added, “The temple you look for is not far from here.”

The answer made me confirm that he thought I was no threat to him. He was mistaken, yet the danger wasn’t that of an enemy.

“May I ask you to point the way for me?” I pleaded.

Izuna stared at me quietly for a moment, letting his eyes fade black again. He seemed to take pity on my apparent lost soul. Maybe he concluded I was just a lost damsel amidst a battlefield.

“I will see you there, miss, a woman should avoid such a journey on her own. You could stumble upon a gruesome fight.”

 _Ah, a gentleman_ , I could help but think as I thanked him.

He led the way in the darkness, right into an area filled with thick trees. His eyes seemed to scan every inch of our surroundings in the search of a prey. He was helping me, but he had to hunt. I felt the need to aid him on his task.

“Would you like me to help you catch your prey, sir?” I asked, calling upon nature to have a deer approach.

The boy turned to me as soon as he saw the animal walking to him. His doubts growing when the stag showed him its neck, ready to be sacrificed. It was an old, proud deer; worthy of the Uchiha.

“How is that…?” Izuna’s tone was filled with amazement laced with what can only be described as fear, especially when the stag hit the boy with its antlers and showed the neck once more to be killed.

“It is said that my clan can command animals.” I explained briefly. “It’s a faster way to hunt.”

With that, Izuna cut the stag’s throat open, letting the animal bleed onto the forest floor. My companion kept his thoughts to himself, while staring at me occasionally. He took the stag on his shoulders, then walked again making sure I was behind. Few steps later, I could feel the power from the temple, and I saw the torii with a black sun painted on it. It had been abandoned since the warring period began, but it was still a sanctuary. I rushed inside to ready the main hall and light a fire for the night.

I heard the sharpness of a knife cutting through skin, as expected of a seasoned hunter. The noise made me look at Izuna, admiring his precise movements, his strength, and just how his muscles tensed and the fabric of his tunic marked them. He was a good looking boy. My eyes never left him, even when he found me shamelessly staring.

The fire burned shyly in front of me, unlike the fire hidden in Izuna’s eyes: raging flames; his will was bending. Who thought that a will made of fire could burn so bright for me? With a smile, I bent in a rather sultry manner, letting my skirt open to show off my legs. I took a bottle of wine from my bag then, served it in a small porcelain cup and enjoyed the intermittent stare of my companion on my skirt’s opening.

He sat next to the fire soon after, his blood stained hand held a piece of meat ready to roast. I watched him work closely, while drinking, making all his movements a tad clumsy, and his cheeks a deep shade of red.

“Why were you sent alone to such a dangerous place? Even the monks left many years ago.” He broke the silence, with a shaky voice.

“We are ignorant of human disputes.” I lied, and explained. “My clan is devoted to a temple, no fighter is born on our lands. We keep to ourselves and let the rest of the world do as it pleases. Why is it that you fight?”

Izuna’s gaze narrowed in on my face, then my necklace and ending on my chest.

“Lands, power and after all this time: revenge,” he mumbled, lost in thought.

My presence was finally affecting him and heavily too, so I took my chance. Taking off my geta I conveniently let my skirt slide further apart, with my eyes still lingering in Izuna’s face as he sank his teeth into the tender flesh. I wondered if he wished it was me who he was biting.

“A warrior like you should be praised. Do accept a cup of my family’s wine, sir. It is sacred to us.” I said, offering him a cup of peachy liquor.

He hesitated reaching for the drink, showing his distrust. I took a sip to show him I had no intention to poison him, after which he finally accepted. Our fingers touched for a second, causing him to blush harder and look away. He didn’t move for a while. He didn’t drink or eat; he was tense, and overwhelmed by my compulsion over him. 

With a smile, I relaxed and let my hair down, letting the cool night air tickle my skin, as my imagination drifted. How would his hands feel over me? How tender were his kisses? My spirit grew impatient with such questions, so I pressed Izuna into falling.

He began to eat with his attention on me, as if he wanted to memorize my body patterns, while his sharingan came on and off occasionally. Being worthy of the sharingan thrilled me, making me toast to my luck before downing my drink.

Izuna smelled the wine after seeing me finish my cup, his furrowed brow implying he found it strange.

“Peach?”

“My land is home to many miles of peach trees.” I whispered.

The Uchiha drank finally, with red eyes set upon me, seeming to challenge me. I lifted my head, as if ready to fight. The sharingan melted into blackness due to the compulsion’s daze. 

“I wonder… do you taste like peaches too?” He questioned, mumbling.

I shrugged, smiling innocently.

“Do you want a taste?”

His hands were fast to grab me by the waist and pull me close to him. His lips caught mine in a hungry, yet sloppy kiss. His lips tasted like iron: befitting of him and his clan’s reputation of bloodthirsty warriors, even though Izuna was, in the moment, a bloodthirsty lover.

I rejoiced, for my search had been a success.

**

Uchiha Izuna woke up to the sound of voices in the distance. His head was spinning, his mind blank, and it took all of his will to open his eyes. He sat, blinked fast until his sight cleared, to the point where he activated his sharingan just to recognize where he was and to understand what had happened.

He noticed his bare self with his folded clothes beside him, and the three bottles of unknown contents over them. He scratched his neck over a stinging sensation that he knew was a bruise. He had no memory to explain how he got it, but he attempted to piece back his memories, yes he could only picture the strange woman in white (a weird colour to wear in a battlefield during night.) Some of his memories were clearer, due to his sharingan, but not as clear as they should be. What on earth was able to blur his pinned thoughts?

He recalled offering the girl help, accompanying her to the temple, which meant he had spent the night there, and judging by the warm ashes from the fire she had lighted, he could imply she had not long gone. Holding onto that hope, Izuna stood, even with a stiffened body from sleeping against cold stone. He searched for her with his keen eyesight; her silhouette, her chakra trace, but there was nothing left to follow.

Izuna could hardly forget a chakra like hers: unstable, like a flame. At first he was alerted by it, but he had deemed it a feature of an untrained person with dormant power. He was convinced she was no threat afterwards, but now that he mulled over his decision, he wondered why he had thought such a thing.

He was alive, that was enough proof of his right decision, but everything was blurry and the strange sensation of mist in his head made Izuna ponder whether or not he had been the victim of a trap. Still, he could hear and sense other Uchihas nearby, looking for him. His absence after hunting must have forced his brother to send a search party for him.  
The hunting! Izuna remembered the rather menacing way she had called upon the stag, forcing him to offer himself as a prey. Such strangeness, as her strong desire to reach the temple led Izuna to the conclusion that he had met a priestess of sorts. But the same priestess, much to Izuna’s surprise, had left the stag´s meat and skin well packed in a sac, ready to be carried home.

His confusion was set aside to pick up his clothes and get dressed, since he needed to get back as soon as possible or his brother would be worried, probably even mad. Only after his sword was safe in his sash did Izuna turn his attention to the objects the strange woman left behind. 

The bottles smelled like peaches, which caused him to remember briefly her words about her clan’s sacred liquor. It was safe to assume it was the same. What really got Izuna’s attention were the scrolls that were branded with different enemies’ clans, well sealed with the clan’s Kamon. He was disappointed though; none were from his clan’s main enemy: the Senju. Surprisingly enough, all the scrolls belonged to clans the Uchiha were quarrelling with at the present moment, which meant that maybe the documents held valuable information.

Under one of the laces surrounding a scroll, Izuna found a small piece of parchment with a neat handwriting that Izuna knew was developed by monks or wise men. The theory that the girl was a priestess seemed to be right. Izuna unfolded the paper and read, with curiosity.

_Thank you for the company, My Lord. As payment for your care, accept this scrolls with important information about the ongoing wars your clan faces. And accept the wine.  
Mori Momoko._

The note confused the man even more. He had only walked her to the Temple, and presumably, spent the night guarding her, though he could not recall so. The information given to him, nonetheless, allowed him to set aside his doubts and take his belongings and the gifts ready to go home. As soon as he left the Temple, Izuna found the searching party he had heard earlier.

“Where have you been, Izuna!? Your brother had been searching for you!” the eldest from the group asked harshly.

The youngster didn’t know what to answer, since probable follow up questions to the truth would be uncomfortable and impossible to answer.

“A girl crossed the border yesterday from a far away land, she came to the Temple. Wasn’t much of a threat, but I watched her all night.” Izuna quickly threw together, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

All the other Uchiha exchanged looks: Izuna wasn’t the type to forgive strangers for trespassing. What if the Senju had sent one of their women to get information or take an Uchiha hostage?

“How did you know she wasn’t a threat?” Asked one of the men.

Izuna wondered that himself, since he could only remember knowing. 

“She was from a clan that handles spiritual things. No weapons on her, and clueless as to who I was or which clan I belong to.” Izuna explained, hoping for it to be enough for the others, and afterwards, enough for his brother.

The man had no intention of being chastised for falling asleep in the company of a stranger who could have killed him. The compensation were the scrolls, but even then, explaining how he got them was going to be uncomfortable at the very least.

The others asked no more questions, since Madara surely would interrogate his brother endlessly until the truth was discovered. If it was as Izuna had said, then they were going to find out. The only thing that mattered of the story was finding the trespasser. Maybe Izuna was right and she was no threat, but maybe he was wrong and she was a spy.  
“Black hair, lilac eyes. Her clan’s kamon is kanji for forest.” Izuna described when asked about her. While thinking of her, however, weird sensations came to his mind, like the softness of her hands against his chest, her plump pink lips, and the way the firelight reflected upon her pale skin.

Izuna brushed his memories off, pondering over them, were they facts, or dreams? He could tell Momoko was a beautiful woman–the exotic beauty type. He was too used to the similar looks all Uchiha women had, and he tended to not think too much about other clan’s women; they were just enemies to him. Even then, any woman he knew would pale against the mystic grace of the foreign girl. Momoko, walking through the grass, letting her peach-scented hair loose, and her alluring lilac eyes that seemed to condense the mist of her homeland in them.

The Uchiha territory was buzzing with life, however, the absence of their leader’s brother made many nervous. Therefore, when Izuna appeared, all felt relieved, but the one who was finally at peace was their leader: Madara. The men waited for his brother at their house gates; a building often used more as a meeting room when in need to discuss war.  
Madara observed Izuna walk deep in thought, with a furrowed brow, as if bothered by something. The Uchiha knew his brother well to suspect an incident, but Madara didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

Izuna nodded to acknowledge his brother and leader, ready to show him the night bounty. The young Uchiha had tried to think about a reasonable explanation, but none of his ideas sounded right, so all that was left was the truth ―pieces of the truth at least. There was no guarantee about keeping his brother’s temper at bay. Maybe he would take it calmly, but maybe he would be angered by Izuna’s carelessness.

“I got intel on Taira, Mononobe, and Shimura clans,” Izuna announced, handing over the scrolls, and explained, “I helped a foreign woman during the night who was trying to reach the Black Sun Temple. She gave the scrolls to me as a payment to thank me for my help.”

Madara narrowed his eyes upon his brother’s face. A foreigner? A payment? The Uchiha’s eyes fell upon the scrolls. He pondered over interrogating Izuna or opening the scrolls and taking a look. He did the latter. Firstly, Madara walked into the house, followed closely by Izuna and many other men. It felt as an important matter to be discussed by all the main members of the clan.

Madara settled in his usual seat on a higher part of the floor. While he waited for the others to sit, and his brother to stand in the middle of the room, the Uchiha leader opened the scrolls to read them. His surprise was obvious for all those who waited for Izuna’s explanation, who immediately voiced their doubts about the documents Izuna had gained mysteriously.

“Their military strategies for the upcoming battles!”

The declaration caused commotion among the Uchiha clan, but it also set Madara’s mind: he needed to know how his brother found just the right person who had such important knowledge.

“Tell me all there is to know about the woman you met!” Madara ordered.

Izuna thanked destiny that his brother seemed more invested in knowing about the girl and the information than in scolding him for his lack of precautions. Nevertheless, Izuna swallowed hard, thinking about Momoko, getting lost for a moment in the depths of his blurry memories.

“She called herself Mori Momoko, from the Land of Water. She bears her clan Kamon on her back, and in a necklace. Black hair, long to her waist, lilac eyes ―an exceptional beauty.” Izuna described absentmindedly, looked at his brother and then added: “She smells like peaches.”

All present stared in disbelief at the young man, due to his words so out of character for him. Why would he remember the girl’s scent? Notice a woman for her physical beauty? Later, Izuna acknowledged his mistake when describing Momoko, but there was nothing he could do to fix it.

Madara, more than surprised, was puzzled, for he could not remember a time when his brother referred to the opposite sex with such care. Madara could only guess the woman was, in fact, a vision, but that was far from useful for him.

“Was she a Kunoichi?”

Izuna knew not the answer to that.

“Truly, I do not know. She carried no weapons, and her chakra was intense, but out of control, as if she lacked training. I do believe she can speak to animals, or at least control them.” Izuna told his clan with wonder laced in his words. “When she saw I was hunting, she made a stag sacrifice itself for me…” Izuna added. “She did say her clan was in charge of a temple and spiritual matters. She even gifted me sacred wine. I let her cross since she was set on reaching the temple. She prayed all night, and at dawn she was gone.” Finished Izuna with a lie to tie it all together.

Madara knew there was more to the story, but he let it pass, inclined in having a meeting to discuss the scrolls and the veracity of their information.

After the meeting and the congratulations Izuna received for helping the right person at the right time, the man walked to the nearby riverbank to bathe. Once there, Izuna took off his tunic full of ash and deer blood. For a moment, the man just stared at his reflection, studying a couple of fading marks in his chest. None of them hurt, but they resembled the hickeys Izuna had seen in some of his comrades after returning home to their spouses.

For a long time, since waking up, Izuna had tried to convince himself that he had fallen asleep while the woman prayed. Now, he was inclined to believe they both had prayed with their bodies to old gods, but there was no way to prove it.

Izuna then sniffed his skin, which had the lingering peachy scent that belonged to the woman, as if she had pressed herself against him for hours. The doubts plagued his mind, wondering how he had ended up smelling like ripening peaches, but misty images, or dreams, suggested an answer. That made heat grow inside Izuna by dreaming―remembering how he pulled Momoko’s yukata, revealing her soft, white skin like the moon.

Izuna washed in the river, hoping to wash away the memories or fantasies, or whatever was that made him return to the woman’s eyes, and her skin, which, when Izuna bit, he believed to be like biting a ripening peach.


End file.
